Bonus Items from Season Preview

The Clarkson men's season preview ran in our newspaper today, check our site for the story, just click on the local sports link.

One thing that ran in the paper but did not run online is the position-by-position outlook, including a prediction of where the Golden Knights will finish.

Here is a look at that:

Defensemen

National Hockey League draft choices Bryan Rufenach and Mark Borowiecki lead this position. Rufenach, a junior, is a Detroit Red Wings pick and led Clarkson’s defensemen in scoring with nine goals and nine assists last season. Borowiecki, a sophomore, is more of a stay-at-home defenseman. The Ottawa Senators draft choice had one goal and one assist last year and was a minus-one. He also had just 24 penalty minutes. The other returnees are senior Jeremiah Crowe and juniors Dan Reed and Tom Pizzo. Leading the newcomers is freshman Nik Pokulok, the younger brother of former Cornell defenseman Sasha Pokulok. Also vying for time is freshman Andrew Himelson, who was with the Des Moines Buccaneers of the U.S. Hockey League last year.

Forwards

Clarkson will look to increase its scoring from last season. One player who should do well is junior captain Scott Freeman, who led the team in scoring last year with six goals and 23 assists. Senior Matt Beca, an assistant captain, had 11 goals and 13 assists and Clarkson’s other assistant captain, junior Brandon DeFazio, had seven goals and 11 assists. Others who should improve this year include junior Lauri Tuohimaa (9 goals-9 assists), Boston Bruins draft choice Nick Tremblay (4-7) and Detroit Red Wings pick Julien Cayer (4-6). Senior Tim Marks (1-5) and sophomores Louke Oakley (3-6) and Jake Morley (1-3) provide both muscle and potential for offensive production.

Goalies

Sophomore Paul Karpowich will be the main guy this season. The St. Louis Blues draft choice went 7-14-4 last year with a .907 save percentage and a 2.85 goals-against average. He played with a hand injury in the second half of last season and split time during the second semester with fellow sophomore Richie LaVeau. LaVeau also had solid numbers as a freshman with a 3-4-3 record, a .900 save percentage and a 2.96 GAA. Joining the mix this year is freshman Dan Rosen, who played for the Kingston (Ontario) Boyageurs last season.

Outlook

Just 18 months after being one win away from the Frozen Four, Clarkson finds itself picked 11th out of 12 teams by the ECAC Hockey coaches in the annual preseason poll. The Golden Knights won the conference tournament in 2007 and the regular-season title in 2008 but slumped to a 10th-place finish last year and a 10-19-7 overall record. Clarkson should do better than the league’s coaches predicted, however.

Prediction: Seventh in ECAC Hockey.